For those who may have tuned her in the last 24 hours and read the two newest posts, I have adjusted one of them by removing the last name of the reporter named Robyn.
I did that because while everyone closely connected will know who I'm talking about, it's probably not right for me to post her last name there without her permission.
Unlike the Flint Journal website, I won't hide my mistakes or adjustments. So if you wondered why the last name disappeared. Well, now you know.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Correction/Explanation
Thursday, May 22, 2008
A tale of two stories
As a daily (sometimes more than once, heck sometimes more than three times) consumer of the Flint Journal website it is interesting how some stories appear there and then how they appear when they get to the printed version.
Headlines change (see beetle story below on the blog) and sometimes the story is rewritten or corrected.
On Wednesday there was a perfect example of that. This is the story that appeared online:
Flint makes another 'worst' list
by Bryn Mickle The Flint Journal
Tuesday May 20, 2008, 8:58 PM
FLINT, Michigan -- Once again, Flint has found itself the recipient of a rather dubious distinction.
The new issue of the men's magazine Best Life, published by Men's Health, puts the city on its list of the 10 worst cities in the nation to raise a family.
Why? Crime.
"Country's highest violent-crime rate," the magazine claims.
The story continues with the obligatory comment from the mayor and of course, the city on the opposite side of the survey, which was, surprise, surprise, Honolulu.
The readers loved it and were leaving comments on the story.
When I looked at Wednesday's (May 21) home-delivered dead tree version I looked for the story on Page 1, not there. I turned to Page 3, still not there. When I got to Page 4, there it was tucked into the local headlines columns.
The new opening paragraph (called a lede) was different from the dramatic version online and the byline was dropped.
Here's the new one:
"The latest issue of the men's magazine Best Life, published by Men's Health, puts Flint on its list of the 10 worst cities in the nation in which to raise a family." The story continues on with the previous version.
Not sure what happened overnight, but someone certainly decided to give the City a little break in the morning. No one would write a lede that boring unless they didn't want anyone to read it.
Shufflin' off to Buffalo, bye to Robyn
Time for another excursion to Buffalo, NY to help with the family. It's also time to weatherproof the wheelchair ramp I installed there about six weeks ago. So blogging will be at a minimum this weekend, but I'll try to drop in once in awhile. The housesitter is here, so I'll make this next post quick.
I'll have a lot more to say about this next matter later, because I know a lot more about this, but high class, experienced reporter Robyn turned her last shift at the Flint Journal Wednesday.
While Robyn didn't qualify for the buyout because a few years ago she left and then came back as a part-time employee she has departed after some rather crude treatment. Mind you Robyn isn't complaining to me, but most people at the paper, and many who have left, know what happened to Robyn.
So instead of having a pile of money dangled in front of her, they just treated her badly.
Later, I'll explain to you how she wanted, should have had, but was denied one of the open editor slots on the weekly side. Instead the paper has hired a couple of lightweights who have told everyone that they "are now at the helm."
I have U.S. Navy experience as a helmsman and trust me under the current leadership the U.S.S. Flint Journal is headed for the rocks and shoals. Especially when high class, experienced reporters like Robyn are pushed out the door.
But like I said, I'm headed out the door myself, so just whet your appetite for the story to come.
Robyn, in case you turn in here, you know I love you and enjoyed working with you for so many years. To kind of twist the old Bogie phrase: "We'll always have Theron Wiggins!" (Don't worry I'll explain that too!)
Robyn, enjoy the peace and quiet that comes after the Journal, enjoy that husband and kids and just know that you will be sorely missed, even if some folks don't believe it.
Oh, and one more thing, I have to give the big editor credit for one thing: He said that blogging was the wave of the future and that it could be fun. Man, was he right!
Frightening 911 tapes
A month ago I blogged about the shooting of Capac police chief Ray Hawks. I was acquainted with Hawks through my work at the Oakland Press and at the Flint Journal.
His family has put up a website for people to visit, leave well wishes and listen to the 911 tapes of the shooting.
Tape 4, the one where Chief Hawks is calling for help himself, is particularly moving and frightening.
Please stop by and leave a message and listen to the tapes.
The website is at: http://chiefhawks.com/
Monday, May 19, 2008
The tall tale of the hopping raccoon
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Making my point
Saturday, May 17, 2008
No comment
Someone sent me the following headline from the Flint Journal website today:
Team tries to beat the beetles off in Genesee County park
This needs no further comment, at least from me.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Withering website issues facing newspapers
For some reason the webmasters at the Flint Journal are no longer posting the weekly Sunday columns of the two main editors at the Journal. At least when you click on the link to their names the columns posted there are well more than a month old, in the case of one two months.
If you read through their columns online you will find almost no comments. The only column that the editor wrote that drew significant comments (about 21, which is pathetic by Detroit Free Press standards) was his defense of the new website against an onslaught of angry reader criticism.
There have been some recent significant errors on the website, some which were quietly fixed and others that are archived with the mistakes.
One recent one was in a cutline for a feature on an old homicide case. The story (accurately, by the way) indicated the woman was found dead in 2004 in her 2002 vehicle. The caption (or cutline in newspaper terms) indicated she died in 2002. Maybe a little dyslexia on the part of someone, but I checked two days later and the error remained even though a commenter pointed out the error.
The comments are not frequently moderated either.
All newspapers are facing the new challenge of letting readers take over control of websites. I'm not familiar with how all newspapers watch over comments, but it is clear that there is a severe need for pre-moderation of comments.
Newspapers that wouldn't think of putting a trained, professional journalist's copy in the newspaper before it was edited are quick to allow any anonymous poster to spew hate and venom without anyone looking it over.
This has to be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Maybe it already has somewhere. In Tuesday's Flint Journal website there was a story about political signs involving Flint Mayor Don Williamson. About 11:30 p.m., long after any editors are on duty at the Journal, a poster named "inyourbiznes" posted the following comment, which I have edited to remove a city employee's name:
Inyourbiznes:
Williamson = Old Redneck
(Employee) = Young Redneck
Both have a sixth grade education and are like children. If (the employee) would stop stealing saws, mowers and wood from the Parks and Recreation Department that would be a news story. Drive by his home and you can see it all sitting in his yard with his god-awful recall sign. This guy is a hilljack!! He is trying to win a suit against the city just like his daddy did years ago. And with the Con involved he probably will win.Both of these men should be proud. Proud for the fine face they put on representing their city.
Inappropriate?
Alert us." (End of post)
There's enough libel in there to make someone pretty wealthy. And who knows who "inyourbiznes" really is. Heck, it could be a friend of the city employee trying to drum up a libel suit. The point is the post was up for nearly ten hours before a Journal website monitor removed it with a short comment about it's inappropriateness.
I'm going to start making screen grabs of the offensive comments and saving them so they won't be lost to cyberspace. The point of saving them is to prove that just removing them does not mean they are not still out there.
So in the Flint Journal's case they are OK with letting anyone libel anyone else without having a gatekeeper to stop the offensive remark from being published online. And yet, and I only bring this up again because Channel 12 is continuing to kick the Journal's butt on the Great Lakes Mortgage Broker story with another update Thursday night, they were terrified of printing a story that would have exposed one of the largest mortgage scams in the State because the offender refused to offer a comment last August.
The paper should at least be consistent in its policies about publishing possible libel.
Thought for the day
Monday, May 12, 2008
Editor emeritus chimes in...
A former Journal editor chimed in after seeing the following errors and omissions in the paper on one day in April. I have omitted the names of the reporters involved as some of the information that was excluded should have been caught by copy editors, but most of the ones who would know the info are enjoying the sunshine somewhere warm after taking the buyout.
Page 3 - Feature on Charlie Bell visiting Flint Central to be tested for high blood pressure. (Reporter) writes he was a member of the Flintstones who got to the Final Four in 1999. And no mention that he was on the NCAA championship team in 2000 and also the Final Four team in 2001. Strike two.
Sports front - game story on Tigers. sentence ends, then it's a jump. And when you get to the jump, the story picks up in mid-sentence and Leyland is talking about Guillen and Cabrera. And unless you already were aware of it from someplace else, there's no way you'd know he was talking about them switching positions in the field from now on. Strike three.
Another great day at the new FJ.
Fasteddie chimes in on JRC meanness
Fasteddie is a frequent visitor to this blog. He sent me by e-mail a reflection on the owners of JRC, the string of newspapers that includes the Oakland Press. Recently I posted an item (http://freefromeditors.blogspot.com/2008/04/more-bad-news-for-oakland-press-journal.html) about the pending financial failure of that newspaper ownership.
Fasteddie chimed in with a reflection that brings the failure and meanness down to a human level. Sometimes I think we forget that many of the people being hurt by the decisions of media tycoons are human beings.
Here's fasteddie's comment:
"Those heartless JRC bastards"
As told to me by Dick Hunt deceased former Chief Photographer at The Royal Oak Tribune.
Dick Hunt was one of the hardest working photojournalist I have ever known He did the work of two for all of the nearly fifty years he was at the Tribune.
Reaching his goal of fifty years at the Trib was to be his greatest achievements. Dick had won numerous awards and was at one time president of The Michigan News Photographers Association.
The Tribune became another of JRC's victims when it was bought as part of the once proud 21 Century chain that included The Oakland Press.
It was just a matter of weeks before Dick would make his Fifty year goal and a couple of big parties were planned by employees and friends. But the heartless managers at the Trib called Dick into the dirty little office and told Dick to turn-in his keys and camera and leave the building. You are being let-go.
Dick was stunned and pleaded to be able to finish the few weeks left and achieve his goal also, he had already planned to retire at the same time. "No" was the reply. He even offered to work free for the remaining time. "No".
It broke his heart and spirit. I had a long lunch with him shortly after that day. He was a broken and in the over fifty years I had known him he was a changed man.
Dick dropped dead a couple of days after our last of many times together. But JRC did save that few extra days of pay and perhaps more importantly having to buy a gallon of ice cream and a small cake for the dozen remaining employees sill huddled in one corner of the once nice building the Trib build about fifty years ago.
Editor's note: If that doesn't turn your stomach, not much will.
Here's a link to Hunt's obituary: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/121807/loc_20071218201.shtml
Saturday, May 10, 2008
In memory and honor of Patricia, my mom
In May 1987, just a few days after Mother's Day, my sister, Pam, my brother, Mike, and I said good-bye for good to our mother, Patricia. It was the end of a 14-year valiant battle with cancer.
(Please check out comment from my first wife about her former mother-in-law)
I know I speak for my siblings when I say that hardly a day goes by without some conscious thought of her. Her profound and positive effect on my life cannot be overestimated. I miss her more than I can say.A few years ago, I wrote a true story about a memorable day I spent with my mother and uncle aboard the U.S.S. Hoel, DDG-13, in 1967 while I was in the Navy.
Of all the columns I wrote, and all the items in that column that I published, none was the subject of more discussion and long-term recollection of readers than that one.
So in honor of Mother's Day here it is again:
One of the nice things the Navy did during my short service was annually ships would arrange for a "Dependent's Cruise." It was a day where family could join a sailor aboard a ship and steam out to sea for a nice leisurely day of camaraderie and fun. In 1967, we were allowed to invite two people along.
I chose my mother and my uncle, who lived in La Jolla, just a stone's throw from the Naval Base in San Diego. The day was beautiful and we pulled out of San Diego Harbor about 11 a.m. for an afternoon cruise around the islands off the coast of California.
At the time I was a Quartermaster, which meant my duty assignment was the Bridge. My exact assignment was as Helmsman during critical situations. Those situations could be underway replenishment (taking on oil and supplies from a ship sailing just a few dozen feet from our ship) during battle conditions in Vietnam and in and out of port.
My mother and uncle were on the main deck during our departure, but after the daylong cruise they joined me on the crowded Bridge for the trip back into San Diego Harbor.
At some point before heading into the harbor we took our assigned duty stations and I was behind the wheel heading back into port. As always, especially on a nice day like this one was, the harbor was choked with pleasure craft, small sailing boats and motor craft.
My view was limited to the porthole directly in front of me, but really of no concern because I was steering a course dictated by Captain Fontaine (actually a commander, but in the Navy anyone in charge of a vessel is "captain").
My mother was looking out of the various portholes on the bridge and obviously became concerned when she saw all the small boats surrounding and coming at our, in relative terms, huge ship.
At a quiet moment on the Bridge, my mother rather pointedly called out to me: "Don't hit any little boats, Jimmy!"
Now if there had been a hole to crawl in, I would have. But my shipmates, including the captain, got a huge laugh out of her comment. But I was a mortified 19-year-old.
Angrily, I whipped around and told her: "Mother, if the captain wants me to hit a little boat, I hit a little boat." My uncle, a veteran himself, put his arm around my mother and whispered something in her ear and she didn't say anything else for the rest of the cruise.
About four months later, we were heading into Hong Kong Harbor as we prepared for a four-day break from our Vietnam service. As we approached the mouth of the harbor there were, as there always were in Hong Kong, dozens of junks and sailing vessels coming in and out.
Capt. Fontaine, obviously remembering that embarrassing moment for me in San Diego, turned and told me: "Let's not hit any little boats, Jimmy!" I can't tell you the embarrassment I felt.
In later years my mother and I laughed about the incident and I grew to really appreciate the real reason behind her warning. She simply didn't want me to do anything hurtful to myself or others. The fact she didn't understand how it would sound in a military setting was not her fault.
So on this special day, if you are fortunate enough to still have mother to hug, do so and don't ever miss a chance to let her know how much you love and appreciate her. Oh, and don't hit any little boats.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
May the farce be with you...
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Yet another depressing media blog
Worth the read. For those of us with ties to The Oakland Press, the April 12-13 entry on "What went wrong at JRC?" is particularly insightful.
Much on the site to read. I'll put a permanent link on the links page.
http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/
Here's a direct link to the article and comments (some are pretty biting, and may I say, good.
http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-went-wrong-at-jrc.html
Pushing for online mediocrity
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Kind of fun
Friday, May 2, 2008
Go Red Wings!
In my off time I really like to watch and root for the Detroit Red Wings hockey team.
Last night they disposed of their once fierce rivals the Colorado Avalanche in four relatively easy contests. This morning they finished off the Avs with an 8-2 drubbing.
Dave, a friend of mine in Lansing, kind of huffed and puffed when I said the Red Wings would sweep the series after the second game win in Detroit.
It's easy to pick a sweep after the third straight win, but not-so-easy after the second win at home. But then that's the way I roll. I kick it old school, as they say.
So I don't know yet who we will face in the conference finals, but I'm pretty confident that we will do well. Especially with the way Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen are currently playing.
Franzen, for those who know little or care little about hockey, scored three goals (hat trick) in two of the games against Colorado. Almost unheard of in hockey circles.
So pardon this brief interruption in the newspaper talk, but it's always a wonderful thing when the calendar says May and the Red Wings are still playing.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
On the subject of website scrubbing
Sunday, April 27, 2008
A blast from the past
Jim Smith, editor 1978-79
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Now there's a switch
Monday, April 21, 2008
Table manners training brings big bucks
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Free From Editors fun facts
Free From Editors has been on line since late November 2007. On March 31 I signed up for a Google Analytic program that keeps a general track of my blog traffic. It doesn't identify specific visitors, but it does break them down by country and server.
Just for fun....
More bad news for Oakland Press, Journal Register Co.
Saw a link on another website posted by former colleague Sue C. who points out that many of us have friends at the Michigan publications owned by this company. The company has already decimated its ranks so it boggles the mind where they can go from here:
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080416/REG/696167184/1069
Here's a teaser from the story:
Shares of Journal Register, which traded as high as $23.875 a decade ago, on Tuesday closed at 32 cents — cheaper than the newsstand price of a weekday paper.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Cream has risen to the top
Good to hear from some fellow retirees and a few of those who still retain full and part-time employment at the Flint Journal.
Saying good bye to an old, faithful appliance
We all complain about poorly made products. But I've got to be honest today, we are putting out to pasture my still working Mr. Coffee four-cup coffee maker.
This is a coffee pot that I purchased in March 1995 after my second wife and I parted company. I went to Sears in Flint and in about 10 minutes purchased a new television, a vacuum cleaner, an alarm radio, a computer and the now soon-to-be-retired coffee pot.
The salesperson was agog as I pointed to one appliance after another with, "I'll take that, I'll take that, I'll take that...."
Part of my hurry was that my editor at the time was sending me out of town to cover the capture of a young boy who had killed his twin brother the day before in Flint. I was in the process of moving out of the 2,000-square foot marital home into my 568-square foot apartment in Davison.
Time was short, but I needed to get up and running.
So, back to the $11 coffee pot, which by the way, survived by far all the other appliances I gobbled up that day.
So I did a little conservative math about my well used coffee pot, which was used virtually everyday and sometimes more than once:
Pots made: 4,745
Gallons of coffee made: 741 (95,000+ ounces)
Cost of pot per pots of coffee: 1/5 of a cent per pot
Total number of days the pot was on (based on a 24 hour day): 198 days
Number of carafes broken and replaced: 5
And remember, we're not retiring it because it's broken, but because the cost of a new carafe (we just broke another one) is nearly the same as a new coffee pot.
So when you look at the picture above, say a little "wow" to some great American engineering and notice that the new pot in the background is also a Mr. Coffee. This time it cost $13.
Pesky raccoon help requested
Say a little prayer
A longtime acquaintance, Ray Hawks, current police chief of Capac in Michigan, was shot Wednesday while trying to arrest a man. A sheriff's deputy also suffered minor wounds.
Hawks is a longtime police officer who I knew during my five years as a reporter with the Oakland Press in Pontiac.
Hawks, who is reportedly in critical but stable condition, is now expected to survive and I just want to offer a little prayer for his complete recovery.
When I knew Ray in Pontiac he was a sergeant, and later a lieutenant, but one of those rare supervisors who never gave up being a street cop just because he was a supervisor.
Obviously, that love of street patrol never changed and he's still answering "routine" calls even as a chief. A few years ago we talked again after one of his former officers got entangled with a Lapeer County police officer who was dealing in steroid distribution.
After talking about the case at hand, Ray and I relived some of those wonderful years in Pontiac.
In my early days at the Oakland Press (1984) Ray often would let me ride with him during my off duty hours so I could learn the streets and see his job close up.
When I talk to journalism students I often recount those days and always suggest that any good cop reporter will learn about police work from inside the patrol car windshield to give them a little perspective on that job.
Often the media criticizes police, as it should, but frequently without the background or perspective of what the job is really like.
Because of my police service in the 1970s, I know how things look and sound inside a police car and believe any good reporter would want to learn that perspective before become an "expert" police reporter.
An incident that I frequently recount when I discuss the perils of "off-the-record" conversations was one that involved Hawks. This was 23 years ago and at his former job in Pontiac, so I'm sure Ray wouldn't mind me recounting it now. Besides the statute of limitations is long expired.
One of the first nights I rode with Ray, he told me if I was going to ride with him everything was off-the-record. This was for my experience only. I agreed to the conditions, eager to learn more about Pontiac and its police force.
At the time there had been a recent controversy over police firing warning shots over the heads of escaping suspects. The police chief at the time had forbidden the shots, and rightly so as they pose a significant risk to innocent bystanders.
About 2 a.m. Pontiac officers responded to a burglar alarm at an off-road vehicle warehouse on near Wide Track Drive. Ray responded to the scene as a back-up officers.
When we arrived one of the officers ran up to the driver's door of Hawks' patrol car and announced, "Sarge, I popped a round over one of the guys heads but he kept running."
Knowing I had heard the comment about the "warning shot" Ray turned away from the officer, looked me right in the eye and reminded me of my "off-the-record" pledge.
No one was hurt and Hawks dealt with the officer in his own way, but I never forgot the impact of his words, and the promise I made and kept.
But that was then, this is now and I know you will all join me in hoping that Chief Hawks gets completely well.
And from me to Ray, maybe it's finally time to retire.













